


Entirely Fascinating

by ro_flix



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:13:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25312123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ro_flix/pseuds/ro_flix
Summary: Set post-film. Whilst on a mission in Afghanistan, Joe gets a chance to reflect on how much Nicky still fascinates him.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 15
Kudos: 588





	Entirely Fascinating

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first piece of writing that I have done, and had the courage to share, in about eight years. I would really appreciate any comments, including suggestions for improvement, as I try to get back my confidence.

It had been the longest time. No one in history could say that they have been in love for as long as they have. But Nicky still fascinates Joe entirely. 

Joe’s passion never surprised anyone. He is quick and fiery. It wasn’t that long ago that he broke a man’s neck when he could have easily shot him, all because his soul demanded a price, a satisfaction, for the way that man had shot Nicky. Nicky is always the calmer, the more balanced of the two of them, often the wiser. But every now and again, something sparks in Nicky, and Joe is reminded of the fierce warrior that he first encountered in the Crusades, and it inspires something deep inside him.

The three of them were in Afghanistan, in Kunar. Andy was back in Kabul, convinced to stay behind in what they knew would turn into a firefight that they couldn’t predict. She was furious, and it had been an almighty row, but she was growing to accept that they wanted her around, and that meant making choices about when to take a step back. With Booker gone, Joe and Nicky were letting Nile take the lead. They didn’t like to lead. They had learnt to fight with each other, in sync with each other, always knowing where the other was and what they needed. They didn’t need one of them to be distracted, or overburden by leadership. They were happy to follow. 

Copley had directed them to an extremist training camp. He said that he had heard about it through old CIA channels, whatever that meant. The militants, an affiliate of the Islamic State group, had taken over several compounds in a village in the mountains. Some of the villagers had fled, but not everyone was able to - where was safe to flee to? What would they have left to survive with?. The military had said there was nothing they could do. There was too much risk to their soldiers, and to their helicopters. So instead the three of them were trekking through the valleys to find and liberate the village. 

They walked mostly in silence, thinking about the task ahead, taking in the scenery. At one point, Joe piped up pensievely,

“Nicky, do you remember the last time we were in Kunar?” 

Nicky smiled back at him. “Fighting the British...again.” 

“Ah, good times.”

“Simpler times,” Nicky added.

Joe noticed Nile shaking her head in front of them. 

They stopped about two miles outside of the village to rest, check their weapons, and wait until midnight. They went over the satellite images of the village and the compound again, and talked about the plan until they were sure they all knew it instinctively. Nile dozed, head resting on her backpack. Joe and Nicky didn’t sleep, just sat together in the hot Afghan night. Joe sat against a rock, and let Nicky lean back against his chest. Joe wrapped one arm around the front of Nicky’s chest, and let the fingers of his other hand run up and down Nicky’s arm. Nicky kept one hand on the semi-automatic by their side. And together they breathed, and watched the expanse of stars. 

The quiet beeping of Nicky’s watch roused them at 23:45. Joe planted a soft kiss on the back of Nicky’s head, and instinctively knew that it had made Nicky smile. That was all that mattered to Joe in that moment. 

They prepped. Handguns loaded and holstered, semi-automatics resting across their chests, blades positioned - Nicky’s at his side, Joe’s on his back, Nile’s new knives in sheaths on her arms. Nile knew to give them a moment of privacy to share a long kiss. Always, just in case.

They walked in complete, intentional silence this time. It took thirty minutes to reach the village. They waited just above it, reading the scene. There were watchmen, but they weren’t taking it seriously - they felt invincible in the mountains, with no sound of drones above. 

They followed the plan perfectly, starting with well aimed, silenced, shots to the watchmen. Nicky and Joe found the sleeping extremists, killing four or five with their blades before anyone woke. Nile heard the gunfire start from the compounds across the village as she cleared the civilians from the other compounds and ushered them to relative safety in a single compound on the edge of the village. She caught glimpses of Joe and Nicky fighting as she cleared the area. They were a masterpiece. It was like a dance. They worked their way through the area, compound by compound, Nicky leading, Joe watching his back. Nicky took a bullet in the side and Joe enacted swift vengeance. In return, Nicky impaled a man charging at his love. 

Things began to slow, there was less and less gunfire splitting the air. Nile kept herself between the people and the fighting, simultaneously watching for danger to the civilians, and watching for anyone pretending to be one of the innocent. Joe and Nicky began to approach, starting to lower their weapons. That was when Joe took six bullets to his back in quick succession, falling abruptly to the floor. Nicky snapped around, gun searching for the assailant.

A man stood, fury in his eyes, stance rigid, a small girl clutched to his side, an old Soviet rifle in his other hand.

“Drop your weapons,” he demanded in Pashto. All three of them knew enough Pashto to understand. Nicky heard the shriek of the girl's mother in the crowd of people, and the gasp of Joe’s returned breath. Nicky had no space in his brain for relief in that moment, his entire focus on the pair in front of him. Joe turned over slowly and read the situation quickly, remaining on the floor. Nicky placed down his gun next to Joe, but the hand clutching his sword remained resolute.

It had been the longest time. No one in history could say that they have been in love for as long as they have. But Nicky still fascinated Joe entirely. He was the calmer, the more balanced. Over the centuries, Joe had seen the softness Nicky had for children. It was a regret that he had never shared with Nicky that it was something they could never have together. And in that moment, as a coward used a child as a shield, Joe saw a rage in Nicky that affirmed his love a thousand times over. He was reminded of the Crusader who was fighting for what, at that time, he truly believed was right. He was reminded of the man who once had gripped him fiercely and told him, in extremely fumbled Arabic, that it wasn’t worth killing each other anymore - so much more often the wiser of the two of them. He could see the man who loathed injustice, and the man that loved him with his whole being. 

“Joe, I can do it. I move, shoot.” Nicky murmured in Italian, knowing only Joe would understand. Nicky saw Joe’s nod out of the corner of his eye, and his hand grip his weapon. Nicky took a deep breath, ran a few paces and dived forward with all strength, pushing his body between the man and the girl. The movement surprised the militant, whose bullets hit Nicky in the shoulder, before Joe’s shot found him between the eyes. Nicky clutched the quaking girl to him, whispering words of peace, until the girl's mother broke through the crowds of people and past Nile, and scooped her from his arms, sobbing. He felt Joe’s warm hand on his healing shoulder, and he leant back into the presence of his love. 

“Clear, I would say,” Joe said to Nile, a little too playfully for the circumstances.

“I’ll check, shall I?” she asked, exasperated, with a roll of her eyes. Booker was right about one thing, she was good for the team. Joe pulled Nicky to his feet, they shared a look for a moment, gripping each other’s arms, a reassuring head bump, their ritual. Then they turned to the people. 

It was a rule they made a long time ago. They tried to avoid sweeping in like a hurricane and leave only destruction in their wake. If they had time, and it was safe for them and the people, they stayed. They helped the village clear the bodies and the casings and the blood. Nicky played with the children, including the girl he saved, who followed him everywhere. They stayed until the next day, and left with the village’s blessings. 

When they finally made it back to Kabul, Nile recounted the story to Andy, who did a pretty good job of making it seem that she wasn’t jealous to her very core, but Joe and Nicky knew her better than that. When Nicky handed over Afghan baklava with a wide grin, and Andy met it with a twinkle in her eye, they knew that Andy would be ok.

Joe watches Nicky’s face whenever he can. He watches this exchange. And after the longest time, the longest that anyone can claim, his love, his Nicolo, fascinates him entirely.


End file.
